images

New Horizons and 2014 MU69 (single) - Artwork

by

Walter B. Myers/Novapix

Reference

e-son40-00023

Date

2017-11-04

Speculative illustration of NASA's New Horizons interplanetary probe flying by classical Kuiper belt object (486958) 2014 MU69, about 3 billion miles from the Earth, on 1 January 2019. 2014 MU69 is either a single elongated object about 30 miles long, or two smaller objects orbiting very closely together, maybe even touching; this image illustrates the latter. New Horizons is about the size and shape of a grand piano and weighed 1,054 pounds at launch. The high-gain dish antenna is about 7 feet in diameter and is employed for communication with the Earth.